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08/24/07, 10:38 PM
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#1
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Von Kaiser
Blood Elf Paladin
Tichondrius
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[Paladin] Healing Efficiency
Introduction
First off, I apologize if this thread is a repeat of one someone else did. I did a quick search and found some related topics, but not really the same thing, so I thought it worthy of its own thread.
To give some background into why I did all this, I started looking into healing efficiency when two of the paladins in our guild received 4-piece Tier5. This has also come up again because of the choice between T6 and T5. Healing used to be straight-forward for me as a priest (you heal for x for y amount of mana), but things have become complicated as a paladin (faster casting times, illumination and crit %, BoL, mana cost reduction on spells, less +healing on down-ranked spells, spell haste, etc), and I thought it would be interesting to do the math and just see what paladin healing spells are most efficient.
The Goal
Find what ranks of Holy Light (HL) and Flash of Light (FL) are most efficient with different gear and how that efficiency scales with crit% and +healing.
Conclusions
Buffs and Gear
Blessing of Light (BoL) makes a significant difference to the efficiency of the lower ranks of HL. This is because BoL adds a flat bonus to all ranks of HL, which is a proportionately larger bonus at lower ranks. The Libram of Absolute Truth improves efficiency much more than the Libram of Souls Redeemed. The 4-Piece T5 paladin bonus makes HL cast 0.25s faster. These buffs and gear make HL4 a superior spell than FL7 in most regards.
Small Heals
If BoL is not on the target, FL7 is the best small heal to use. However, with BoL and some specific gear, HL4 becomes the most efficient small-heal spell in the paladin arsenal. HL4 also provides the additional benefit of keeping Light’s Grace active for times when your biggest heals are necessary.
Big Heals
Assuming the Libram of Absolute Truth is equipped along with the other stipulations: HL9 provides about 2.5x the healing/s of HL4 and is almost as efficient as HL7. HL11 provides about 3x the healing/s of HL4 and is the least efficient HL spell.
Scaling
Paladin healing spells scale linearly with +healing, but increase in efficiency faster with higher levels of crit %. Once a certain level of +healing is reached, paladins should aim for more crit % to improve healing/s and healing efficiency. Graphs that show this scaling are included in the spreadsheet.
The Setup
All of my calculations will be done assuming the following parameters are in play:
Buffs
Mana Restore (Insightful Earthstorm Diamond) = 300 mana on a spell cast with what I believe is an effective 2-3% chance proc rate.
Sancitified Light = 6% extra crit to HL
Light's Grace = -0.5 casting time for all HL spells cast in 15 seconds, proc'd when HL is cast
T5 4-piece = -0.25 casting time for HL
Healing Light = 12% extra healing on FoL and HL
- According to WoWWiki, this applies to both +healing and BoL (haven’t tested myself)
Equations
+healing to a max ranked spell: +healing_max_rank = cast time/3.5 * +healing
+healing for downranked spells: +healing_spell = ((level of spell + 5)/player level) * +healing_max_rank
Healing Done by a spell: Heal Average = (Spell Base + Blessing of Light + +healing_spell) * (Healing Light)
Gear/Buff Scenarios
(A) no extra modifiers
(B) Blessing of Light
(C) [Libram of Souls Redeemed] + BoL
(D) [Libram of Absolute Truth] + BoL
Assumptions
I’m going to use my gear for a base +healing of 2000, a base holy crit of 20%, and spell haste rating of 120 for the initial calculations and comparisons for each of the scenarios. I will also post some graphs for the last scenario (D) that show how the efficiency changes as +healing and crit% are scaled.
I will also assume that the down-ranking modifier is applied after the normal +healing calculation for the spell (i.e. they're multiplicative instead of additive).
The Calculations
Here is an example (for HL6) of how the calculations are performed to derive the healing/s, mana/s, and healing/mana numbers. These calculations are made in the same way for all of the ranks of HL and FL discussed, so there is no need to show the calculations for each rank.
Base spell stats:
HL6 - level 38: 364 mana, 698 to 780 healing
Cast-time modifier:
HL is base 2.5 seconds casting time, so this reduces the +healing gained:
HL: 2.5/3.5 * 2000 = 71.4% * 2000 = 1428
Level-Modifier:
((38+5)/70) * +healing = 61.4% * 1428 = 877 +healing
Adding it all up- (Base Spell, + healing bonus) * Healing Light Bonus (12% extra healing):
1764 to 1855 healing
If we cast 100 spells and assume a perfect world (i.e. you’ll get 29 crits with a 29% crit percentage):
2 of those should have 300 mana back (from Mana Restore) = 600 mana
26 will be crits with 1.5x healing and 60% mana back = 218 mana a piece
So total we will be doing:
(1764*74) + (1764*1.5)*26 = 199332 min healing
(1855*74) + (1855*1.5)*26 = 209615 max healing
In this amount of time (remember, 120 spell haste):
100 * 1.61 seconds = 161 seconds (2.68 minutes)
And we will have received back this amount of mana:
26 * 218 + 600 = 6268 mana
199332 to 209615 healing over 161 seconds = 1238 to 1301 healing/s
Total mana spent = 364*100 – 6268 = 30132 mana = 187 mana/s
Final Values:
1238 to 1301 healing/s
187 mana/s
1238/187 = 6.62 healing/mana min
1301/187 = 6.96 healing/mana max
Example Spreadsheet Results
Scenario (D): +2000 healing and 20% crit with BoL and Libram of Absolute Truth:
HL4: 1131 – 1167 healing/s, 79 mana/s, 14.54 average healing/mana
HL5: 1403 – 1451 healing/s, 123 mana/s, 11.60 average healing/mana
HL6: 1693 – 1758 healing/s, 170 mana/s, 10.15 average healing/mana
HL7: 2015 – 2100 healing/s, 223 mana/s, 9.23 average healing/mana
HL8: 2380 – 2492 healing/s, 283 mana/s, 8.61 average healing/mana
HL9: 2747 – 2889 healing/s, 325 mana/s, 8.67 average healing/mana
HL10: 2897 – 3053 healing/s, 351 mana/s, 8.48 average healing/mana
HL11: 3304 – 3500 healing/s, 419 mana/s, 8.12 average healing/mana
FL4: 785 – 805 healing/s, 48 mana/s, 16.56 average healing/mana
FL5: 924 – 949 healing/s, 63 mana/s, 14.87 average healing/mana
FL6: 1066 – 1099 healing/s, 78 mana/s, 13.88 average healing/mana
FL7: 1223 – 1267 healing/s, 101 mana/s, 12.33 average healing/mana
Final Note
Please have a look at the spreadsheet and play around with it. All you have to do is put in a few values in the blue boxes (+healing, crit%, and spell haste), and everything else should calculate out for you.
Let me know if you see any errors or anything I’ve left out and I’ll get it fixed as soon as I can.
I haven’t taken a look, yet, at T6 bonuses versus T5 and whether the crit on HL and extra healing on FoL make things more/less efficient than the T5 bonuses.
Spreadsheet
Spreadsheet can be found here: Pally_Healing_Efficiency_v1.xls
Last edited by Yilona : 08/24/07 at 11:04 PM.
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08/24/07, 11:48 PM
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#2
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King Hippo
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Good effort on an updated spreadsheet for this sort of thing, the layout is clear and simple to use compared to other similar ones, however the results are largely obvious and match up with general common sense.
Perhaps consider adding a bar graph which maps healed amount for all ranks on the y axis ordered from worst to best efficiency on the x axis, for an entered heal and crit %.
In my experience people who have mana problems in a long fight (when not in a shadow priest group) are using ranks that heal for too much for the general amount of periodic damage the raid is taking. People using R11 exclusively instead of 4,7 9 for example.
My guild is still working on Kael at the moment so the mileage of my comments may vary 
Last edited by Ragnor : 08/25/07 at 4:11 AM.
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The universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements. Energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest.
www.retpaladin.com
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08/25/07, 1:14 AM
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#3
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Piston Honda
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Paladin healing spells scale linearly with +healing, but increase in efficiency faster with higher levels of crit %. Once a certain level of +healing is reached, paladins should aim for more crit % to improve healing/s and healing efficiency. Graphs that show this scaling are included in the spreadsheet.
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I'm wondering at what number of +healing should one start stacking crit. I notice many many high end paladins going for straight plus healing, with almost exclusive +22 healing gems. At what point (however high) does this become worse than gaining some crit? I don't have the knowledge of ingame mechanics or the mathmatical background to attempt finding this out, but adding something like that to the spreadsheet would be cool.
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08/25/07, 3:39 AM
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#4
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Von Kaiser
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I think the general theory for stacking +healing is that efficiency can be replaced by chain-chugging mana pots, but there is no equivilant consumable for throughput.
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08/25/07, 5:21 AM
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#5
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King Beard!
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There was a thread before, I'm pretty sure its in the archives now that had a spreadsheet that you could input your character stats, choose your buffs that you would have in a group/raid, and it would give you a list of items that would be a best upgrade for you.
It was originally based off of the sheet that Overen from the Blackhand server made, but someone else had modified it for 2.1 and adjusted the item stat weighing a bit. I tried to find an updated version of it, but there wasn't one out on the net that I could find. Once I realized what items were missing from his spreadsheet, and realized how to add them to the auto-sorting lists, it didn't take long to update it with all of the BT/Hyjal loot.
The only things I didn't put in there, was any item that wasn't strictly +Heal. If it's +dmg/heal, I skipped it... same for the tanking items (for some reason, he has some tanking items and +dmg/heal gear listed in the list.)
Updated Paladin Healing Calculator
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"On a scale of one to mein kampf, how many racists does it take to make a guild look terrible?"
[03:28] L_J: it's "olololo hero class"
[01:09:39] <DeeNogger> Any of the resident grammer nazis on right now?
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08/25/07, 11:16 AM
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#6
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Slayer of Tanks
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I apologize for not being holy specced and not having my raiding holy gear on currently with armory, but this is how I gear up and my mentality.
As a tank healer, I want a steady stream of mid to large sized heals landing on the tank. My stats unbuffed are something like 2050 healing, 43% holy light crit, and 108 mana per 5. Ideally if I got the endgame gear I wanted currently (missing T6 BP, Naj boots, ring, felstone bulwark, and either the mace off Illidan or the Hammer of Atonement from Kaz'rogal), I'd be at like 2200 or so healing and just about 50% holy light crit raid buffed/consumable.
I assume BoL is on the tank as well as improved amp magic, which adds an additional 360 healing. A noncrit rank 7 holy light will heal for about 3000, and a crit will bring it to 4500. With the libram of absolute truth, the noncrit mana cost is 438, the crit is 186. Averaging this all out (since you're at 50% crit, that's pretty often), the average cost of the heal is 312 and heals for ~3750, so you're at about 12 health per mana.
While it's not the MOST efficient, it's a decent sized heal for a pretty cheap cost. Generally I find there to be plenty of +healing on gear as you upgrade it, and attainable through buffs... so the only thing left to really aim for to increase efficiency at the fastest rate, is spell crit. Baseline mot is essential to have as well, but there's also lots of gear swapping that can be done if needed for a more mot-friendly fight.
Also I can't ever see the point of downranking below 7 on holy light, since I assume 90% of raiding paladins aren't raiding with global Light being on the raid. (Only 3 paladins typically). Because of that we're MT healers, and tanks have Light - but you aren't using small heals on them that heal for 1000. 7 is the lowest I go for HL, only on lighted targets, I have 7 9 and 11 also obviously bound. Then it's just Flash for everyone else (or a 9 or 11 HL if mana isn't valuable), and R1 flash for very situational odd type things.
Last edited by Xav : 08/25/07 at 11:23 AM.
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08/25/07, 12:09 PM
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#7
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Von Kaiser
Blood Elf Paladin
Tichondrius
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That's the thing, though... HL4 doesn't heal for 1000; it heals for 1900 non-crit and about 3k crit on a MT. It's a little less healing/s than FoL, but not much. It's the same as using FoL spam on a tank for Mother, but more efficient.
Originally Posted by jusion
I'm wondering at what number of +healing should one start stacking crit. I notice many many high end paladins going for straight plus healing, with almost exclusive +22 healing gems. At what point (however high) does this become worse than gaining some crit? I don't have the knowledge of ingame mechanics or the mathmatical background to attempt finding this out, but adding something like that to the spreadsheet would be cool.
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What you really want is the slope of the lines (delta mana efficiency / delta crit% and delta mana efficiency / delta +healing). You can do this pretty easily on the spreadsheet using the SLOPE worksheet function. If you then divide the crit % slope by the +healing slope, you can see how crit% and +healing compare to each other.
As an example, one crit % gives you about the same mana efficiency as 58 healing with 15% crit on HL4. In the upper ranges (40-50% crit), one crit % gives you the same mana efficiency as 100 healing.
The real answer to your question is entirely subjective. How much +healing do you need to feel that you're putting out enough healing per second to keep people alive? Once you reach that +healing, go for crit%.
It's all a reasonably moot point, however, since paladins in BT/Hyjal don't have THAT many gear choices. There's a random piece or two here and there that gives you a choice, but mostly you're stuck with what's available. Personally, you sacrifice too much if you go for a much lower ilvl item just to get, say, 10 extra crit rating.
Last edited by Yilona : 08/25/07 at 12:19 PM.
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08/25/07, 3:24 PM
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#8
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Slayer of Tanks
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Originally Posted by Yilona
That's the thing, though... HL4 doesn't heal for 1000; it heals for 1900 non-crit and about 3k crit on a MT. It's a little less healing/s than FoL, but not much. It's the same as using FoL spam on a tank for Mother, but more efficient.
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Sure, except on Mother your healing stats are seriously nerfed, and I'd bet FoL is then going to still be a lot more efficient. But I hate utilizing any type of quicky-tiny-spammy function of a paladin, so I don't even like delegating that task to people on Mother to begin with  (But yes, we do currently do it, whatever keeps us one shotting her!). On every other fight it's basically HL on the MT, of sufficient sized chunks of heals to actually keep him topped.
Originally Posted by Yilona
It's all a reasonably moot point, however, since paladins in BT/Hyjal don't have THAT many gear choices. There's a random piece or two here and there that gives you a choice, but mostly you're stuck with what's available. Personally, you sacrifice too much if you go for a much lower ilvl item just to get, say, 10 extra crit rating.
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Yep, to an extent. It's obvious which items in BT/Hyjal are the best for a paladin, they're the plate ones with healing stats and nothing wasted on spell haste. Then it's just up to the player to decide what they want from sockets: 5-6 spell crit, 30ish Mp5, or 220ish healing. Or some mix thereof!
Although yes there are a few choices you can make even further still with miscellaneous pieces, but that about sums it up. Personally I'm loving the general focus on additional spell crit on gear, since it will always be my belief (unless Illumination gets further nerfed) that it scales the best for us, point for point.
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08/25/07, 11:07 PM
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#9
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Glass Joe
Dwarf Paladin
Emeriss (EU)
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As I said in the other topic as well, I realize that having 4/5 t5 opens up serious options for downranking, to an extent that could make lower ranks of HL comparable to FoL spam. But, as I posted in the other topic, I think FoL r7 is the bare minimum of HPS you have to keep up. Dropping lower then this means you're healing way below what you could be doing in means of tank healing. HL5 is maintainable for sure, and HL6-7 are maintanable with a bit of consumable abuse.
I really cant see the point of using HL4, where you could have been using FoL r7. FoL r7 isnt a strain on your mana pool at all, so why go for something cheaper?
Other then that, cool spreadsheet. Oh, the insightful earthstorm diamond has a 2% proc chance.
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08/26/07, 12:13 AM
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#10
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King Beard!
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Originally Posted by Kaplah
I really cant see the point of using HL4, where you could have been using FoL r7. FoL r7 isnt a strain on your mana pool at all, so why go for something cheaper?
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I think it was said in another post, about us downranking spells.. HL4 and FoL7 would heal for roughly the same ammount with BoL, correct? I know mine do. Going from FoL7 to HL4, you spend 10mp more, takes 0.5 seconds more (1.0 without Light's Grace), and you get 5% more crit.
I think it highly depends on the situation on whether one needs FoL7 or HL4.
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"On a scale of one to mein kampf, how many racists does it take to make a guild look terrible?"
[03:28] L_J: it's "olololo hero class"
[01:09:39] <DeeNogger> Any of the resident grammer nazis on right now?
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08/26/07, 2:42 AM
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#11
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Slayer of Tanks
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If the target has BoL, it's probably a tank. And if you are a paladin healing a tank, you are probably there for throughput and longevity at the same time, something you don't use very tiny heals for. (1000-2000). Basically, I find that 'very low downranking' appeal to be largely useless in the majority of real raid situations, because I'm sure most people raid with 3 paladins, which puts light on like 3 classes - Warriors, Druids, and Paladins. If you're raid healing, they don't have BoL so you can't really use any rank of HL, and if you're tank healing, you need big heals, not small ones.
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08/26/07, 4:04 AM
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#12
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Don Flamenco
Draenei Paladin
Tichondrius
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Rank 4 and 7 work well depending on how you have tank healing setup. We usually raid with 1-3 trees, 3-4 Pallies and 1-2 Priests. Tree hots on the tank allow for me to use 4 without any issues.
It also depends on the fight. Harder hitting bosses and you want to uprank.
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Confidence is not Arrogance.
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08/26/07, 4:11 AM
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#13
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Get off my lawn.
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I tend to agree. While theorycraft and numbers are nice when it comes to efficiency -- our primary responsibility (at least in most cases) is keeping a tank up and at that point ~1-2kish heals are just not going to cut it. I simply do not go under HL7 in 99.9% of the cases where I am healing on a raid (other thank HL1 to prep LG). Add to this the fact that mana really ceases to become an issue with current content to the point that I have to change what I personally feel is the best set of spells for a given fight (chugging mana pots etc. included)
Personally, I'll re-evaluate gemming and such when I hit 4pc T6, but at this point I still enjoy primarily using various ranks of HL for healing on tanks (together with 4pc T5) -- so once I hit my target for +healing I'll be trying to round off my crit and then add enough mp5 to be at ~100 unbuffed. Balance and regen work a lot better for me now with the current healing style I utilize. That said I agree with the post above too -- since we started raiding with 2 restoration druids things have changed and I find myself using lower ranked HL and FoL a lot more.
I think the main point is that regardless of the best efficiency on paper, a lot of it is very adaptive (raid composition, fight, healing strategy).
Last edited by moz : 08/26/07 at 4:39 AM.
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08/27/07, 8:54 AM
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#14
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Glass Joe
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Scaling
Paladin healing spells scale linearly with +healing, but increase in efficiency faster with higher levels of crit %. Once a certain level of +healing is reached, paladins should aim for more crit % to improve healing/s and healing efficiency. Graphs that show this scaling are included in the spreadsheet.
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is there a certain amount of +healing to shoot for before going for crit? i looked at all the holy pallies in the top guild on my server and it looked like every one of them put +22 healing in every socket and were only rolling with about 21-22% holy crit unbuffed. if i look at DnT's holy pallies it seems every one of them sockets their gear differently.
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08/27/07, 10:22 AM
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#15
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I BoP my Main tank.
Blood Elf Paladin
Executus
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Originally Posted by Heric
is there a certain amount of +healing to shoot for before going for crit? i looked at all the holy pallies in the top guild on my server and it looked like every one of them put +22 healing in every socket and were only rolling with about 21-22% holy crit unbuffed. if i look at DnT's holy pallies it seems every one of them sockets their gear differently.
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I only spam FoL max rank and have HL R4 on my bars for LG prep, and max rank HL for those "uhoh" situations with DI. I broke 2k unbuff +heal, so I just began stacking crit as much as possible even with the utter crap of our non-set drops (abysmal drop rates for us so far....), and I lost quite a bit of MP5 in the process. I really can't say I miss it - the additional crit % is very, VERY nice. And really once your flash heals are hitting for 2k, there is no reason to go any higher with +heal imo.
Admittedly I am not a great healer when it comes to efficiency, I tend to border 45-50% OH, and just spam pots when necessary.
I'm still in a bit of a bind in regards to gear choices - Xav/Moz or anyone else with some T6 any advice? I haven't taken any T6 just because we're still learning content (Illidan) and I feel that the -.25 on HL is a bigger gain than the set bonuses on T6 for pure progression. But once we have everything on farm, I am going to get full T6 I think just due to the raw stats on that gear (I want stupid stat #'s like 13k HP/15k mana/20k armor raid buffed just for epeen.).
Sorry for the derail  .
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08/27/07, 12:07 PM
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#16
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I've made a terrible mistake
Orc Death Knight
Mal'Ganis
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Originally Posted by Xaviera
...Yep, to an extent. It's obvious which items in BT/Hyjal are the best for a paladin, they're the plate ones with healing stats and nothing wasted on spell haste. ...
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I found this kind of perplexing. The biggest bottleneck I experience is my inability spend my mana fast enough. I use HL10 and FL7 and do not have 4pc t5 yet-but I'm looking forward to spell haste and the set bonus to open up my throughput more.
Is the spell haste, especially with the upcoming changes, still so little roi to not make it worth it, or am I missing something here?
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08/27/07, 12:27 PM
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#17
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Get off my lawn.
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Originally Posted by Mongoe
I found this kind of perplexing. The biggest bottleneck I experience is my inability spend my mana fast enough. I use HL10 and FL7 and do not have 4pc t5 yet-but I'm looking forward to spell haste and the set bonus to open up my throughput more.
Is the spell haste, especially with the upcoming changes, still so little roi to not make it worth it, or am I missing something here?
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I think your experiences are based around your healing setup in general but if you are using HL10 and FL7 and have trouble spending your mana then either your supporting cast are doing a great job topping off your tank (thus you really should be downranking and chaincasting to keep them topped off) or there just isn't that much damage going around. To be honest, the only fight I use spell haste on (aside from trash) is Gurtogg (Dawnsteel Bracers, Blessed Band of Karabor and Girdle of Lordaeron's Fallen). Band is pretty much a full-time use item but otherwise I don't find myself needing the other gear for Hyjal/BT. It may be a raid gearing issue but there isn't any other fight I need to chain cast top rank HL for any length of time at all and hoping for more throughput. Shahraz is another issue, the way we have it broken down we have 3 paladins healing together with a restoration druid and have 1 paladin flashing the tank and 2 using HL -- as one of the 2 doing that I use 4-pc T5 and heal reactively, conserving my mana. For this fight, the extra throughput on HL is invaluable.
To answer Volko's question -- as your healers and tanks get decked out, and especially if you have restoration druids on tank healing, the need for using high ranks of HL regularly diminish fairly rapidly to the point that I find myself using FoL a lot more. Hence, there is nothing better than T6 for making that as efficient as possible. I still think 4pc T5 is brilliant and do use it on a few fights -- this is coming from someone who really does enjoy healing using HL (even before the bonus). However, current content seems much more comfortable (from a tank healing standpoint) than it was and changing guard just makes more sense. Right now I use a mix of 4pc T5 or 2pc T6 depending on whether I want throughput or longevity and will switch over to 4pc T6 once I get it and re-gem accordingly (getting a certain level of +healing and then rounding off crit and mp5). FoL is just ridiculously good with T6 and appropriate gemming such that you can't really look past it.
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08/27/07, 1:06 PM
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#18
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Von Kaiser
Blood Elf Paladin
Tichondrius
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Regarding Spell Haste:
I personally really like spell haste. For me, I use 4pc T5 and use HL4 for small heals and HL11 for big heals when I need serious healing/second. This means I'm always casting a spell that's 1.75 seconds. Add a few items with spell haste, and you can get this pretty low. I never use FoL, so I'm never hitting the GCD. I've found this works well for me.
However, that being said, the 4 items I currently have with spell haste are items that are the best for me at the moment, anyway. The [Blessed Band of Karabor] is only rivaled by the Hyjal exalted ring, which not many people have yet since Hyjal rep is so slow. With 2 of these, you already have 60 spell haste rating. Then, with the
09:11:30 called in wowhead_item::start:324 Item not found!
from Illidan, that's another 32, and it's the only upgrade available over the Prince cloak or Red Riding Hook Cloak (what I was using) for Shamans/Paladins (though I hear they're changing this). Finally, I have the [Dawnsteel Bracers], which add the final 28 to make 120. These four pieces give you a 5.7% increase on your base cast time, and they're not really sacrificing much (or anything at all). They are changing haste, too, on the PTR, so this may be even more after 2.2 (though I say may because it seems they're making quite a few changes to the way it's applied and so forth, and who knows what the final result will be).
Spell haste isn't for everyone, and I just personally like it because it synergizes well with my current healing strategy. For those using FoL 90% of the time, however, spell haste just won't be that useful and those itemization points would be much better spent on crit %.
Regarding T5 vs. T6:
As far as T5 vs. T6, I used the spreadsheet to look at the numbers a bit. I don't remember the exactly numbers, but I had two choices when swapping to T6:
a) Use 5 piece T6
b) Use 4 piece T6 with [Savior's Grasp]
With option a, you lose over 1% crit and 20ish stamina from Savior's Grasp, but then you gain 5% crit on HL. You also gain 20 int, 20 mp5, and 100-odd healing, plus the extra healing on FoL. With a and Libram of Souls Redeemed, you are looking at a much higher efficiency with FoL than before (though not quite as high with HL4 with T5). However, what is much more attractive is the fact that FoL has a decently higher healing/s (on the order of 1350 average healing/s), as well. The extra int means a little more crit, +healing, and mana, and the mp5 is a nice bonus as well. One downside is that your max rank HL suffers with healing/s by about 10%, just because of the difference in cast time.
With Savior's Grasp, you keep the 1% crit and stamina but only gain 8 mp5 and a little (50ish?) +healing and about 20ish int (as I said, I don't remember the exact numbers, but the Lightbringer BP has a lot of +healing and mp5 on it base, plus more, depending on how you gem it). Again, FoL is much more efficient than before and has more healing/s.
So, switching to T6 seems attractive, in that you get a FoL much like HL4 with T5 in efficiency but with a lot more healing/s. On top of that, you have the opportunity to increase your mp5 and/or +healing, depending on what you need with your current gear setup (and potentially boss-to-boss, depending on whether you need some extra longevity or stamina/crit). Unfortunately, your max rank of HL suffers a bit, but how much of that is overhealing, anyway?
However, using FoL again would make haste not nearly as useful and would mean I'd probably swap those pieces out for other items with crit instead (though I think I'd always keep one Karabor ring).
Regarding Gems:
I have never used a +22 healing gem simply because I don't really feel I need more +healing. I have about 2100 raid buffed, which is more than I really need, but it's nice to keep the healing/s going. Instead, I always opt for gems that have stamina or intellect on them.
Stamina and intellect are always very useful stats. How much healing are you going to be doing dead? The more you have, the more breathing room you have. Obviously, this isn't going to be the first thing I look out for, but if I have a choice, I will usually opt for the higher stamina item. Similarly, intellect is the single most powerful stat a paladin can have. It increases +healing (and +damage, if you care about that), crit%, and your mana pool. That's a lot, from just one stat!
I find myself using the Luminous gems whenever I can, and then have just a few of the Royal Shadowsongs when I need blue for my meta. The +sta/+spell crit green gem from instances is also very nice, in my opinion.
The pure +healing gems just aren't that attractive, since there doesn't seem to be a need for more +healing.
*edit* Just to clarify, I'm not saying that putting Solid Stars of Elune in paladin +healing gear is good practice. My comment about stamina was aimed more at gear choices rather than gems. However, I do like the +sta/spell crit green gem that's available. That's the only gem with sta on it that I have in my gear.
My whole point here was that there are other very useful gems out there other than straight +22 healing.
Last edited by Yilona : 08/27/07 at 7:04 PM.
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08/27/07, 3:27 PM
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#19
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Get off my lawn.
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2100 raid buffed seems rather low -- I would disagree that this level of healing is acceptable in an endgame set for a paladin. You really aren't giving up very much at all in gemming for more healing -- mp5 is a non-issue after a particular level (that is not very hard to hit with high-end gear) with super mana potions. This is further exemplified by the fact that you are not really using that loss in healing to max out spell crit. Also Keep in mind that each percent of spell crit is worth more equivalent +heal, the more +heal you obtain. If you are going for making FoL more effective, gemming for more +healing makes sense.
As for gemming T5/T6 gear for stamina -- I think we'll have to disagree there, seems like an absolute waste. Savior's Grasp is pretty horrible for an ilvl 151 item and other than PvP I can't really see myself using it over a T6 BP.
Also, in your example above I think you mean T5 for b) not T6 -- either that or there is some redundancy since you get the 5% crit on HL regardless (4 or 5 pieces).
Last edited by moz : 08/27/07 at 3:51 PM.
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08/27/07, 4:03 PM
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#20
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Glass Joe
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My guild is on a much slower progression (as is my server) we are just getting into SSC/The Eye.
I am constantly in the top 2-3 of healing for the raid. I am rarely OOM as we try to have a Shaman or Shadowpriest in the healer group. Raid Buffed I am around +1900 to healing.
I have not been downranking my FoL and HL.
With my gear/stats am I really hurting myself by not downranking now or do I need T5 gear to get the most bang for the buck?
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08/27/07, 4:50 PM
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#21
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I've made a terrible mistake
Orc Death Knight
Mal'Ganis
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Originally Posted by moz
I think your experiences are based around your healing setup in general but if you are using HL10 and FL7 and have trouble spending your mana then either your supporting cast are doing a great job topping off your tank (thus you really should be downranking and chaincasting to keep them topped off) or there just isn't that much damage going around. To be honest, the only fight I use spell haste on (aside from trash) is Gurtogg (Dawnsteel Bracers, Blessed Band of Karabor and Girdle of Lordaeron's Fallen). Band is pretty much a full-time use item but otherwise I don't find myself needing the other gear for Hyjal/BT. It may be a raid gearing issue but there isn't any other fight I need to chain cast top rank HL for any length of time at all and hoping for more throughput. Shahraz is another issue, the way we have it broken down we have 3 paladins healing together with a restoration druid and have 1 paladin flashing the tank and 2 using HL -- as one of the 2 doing that I use 4-pc T5 and heal reactively, conserving my mana. For this fight, the extra throughput on HL is invaluable...
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We have 'embraced the lifebloom' so yah I actually can do mostly FL spam even on the MT (may also be a byproduct of progression-we're at KT atm). What I am thinking in the short term is just shedding some of my mp5 in favor of more crit and +healing. I have ~120 mp5 unbuffed which I think is fairly high for my progression level-I'm thinking some of it may be overkill. [Figurine - Talasite Owl] may be replaced with a [Lower City Prayerbook] or a [Xi'ri's Gift]
And as for the lack of damage going around-we generally run with 7 healers for all encounters and 8 on FLK. I am hoping quietly we have a day where we're a healer short and try some of these fights with 6.
Last edited by Mongoe : 08/27/07 at 4:56 PM.
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08/27/07, 4:58 PM
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#22
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Piston Honda
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Originally Posted by Gabbath
My guild is on a much slower progression (as is my server) we are just getting into SSC/The Eye.
I am constantly in the top 2-3 of healing for the raid. I am rarely OOM as we try to have a Shaman or Shadowpriest in the healer group. Raid Buffed I am around +1900 to healing.
I have not been downranking my FoL and HL.
With my gear/stats am I really hurting myself by not downranking now or do I need T5 gear to get the most bang for the buck?
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Nothing in SSC or the Eye is really healing intensive. Its the healing intensive fights in BT that really have the need for down ranking HL. I'm pretty sure you could get by in SSC/TK by just FoL spamming.
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08/27/07, 5:25 PM
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#23
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Don Flamenco
Tauren Warrior
Tichondrius
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Originally Posted by moz
As for gemming T5/T6 gear for stamina -- I think we'll have to disagree there, seems like an absolute waste. Savior's Grasp is pretty horrible for an ilvl 151 item and other than PvP I can't really see myself using it over a T6 BP.
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I don't think stamina can ever be called a waste. Today, Blizzard's raid designers have shifted a lot of the damage burden away from the main tank in many encounters. Some the toughest encounters today have the MT taking ~20-25% of the raid's damage. Stamina is very valuable on Illidan, Archimonde, EoS, Shahraz, Azgalor, and Council.
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08/27/07, 5:27 PM
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#24
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Piston Honda
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Originally Posted by Natural
I don't think stamina can ever be called a waste. Today, Blizzard's raid designers have shifted a lot of the damage burden away from the main tank in many encounters. Some the toughest encounters today have the MT taking ~20-25% of the raid's damage. Stamina is very valuable on Illidan, Archimonde, EoS, Shahraz, Azgalor, and Council.
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Yes, but without even trying to get any stamina gear and just using healing upgrades, I've been fine on every single one of those fights. They've added a lot of raid damage, yes, but they've also added more stamina to all gear. I think losing any mp5, +healing, int, or crit for stam is a complete waste.
Last edited by jusion : 08/27/07 at 5:36 PM.
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08/27/07, 5:28 PM
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#25
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Von Kaiser
Blood Elf Paladin
Tichondrius
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Originally Posted by moz
Also Keep in mind that each percent of spell crit is worth more equivalent +heal, the more +heal you obtain.
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This is true from a healing/s standpoint, but not from an efficiency standpoint.
Each percentage of spell crit is worth more than the equivalent +healing the more spell crit you obtain, when talking about efficiency. That is to say, at low % of crit (15-20), one crit % gives you the same healing/mana as 50ish healing. At higher % of spell crit (45-50), one crit % gives you the same healing/mana as 100ish healing.
The more crit % you stack, the faster your healing will become more efficient. +Healing is linear, so efficiency will always increase the same amount for an incremental increase in +healing.
So, as I mentioned before, you only want to get to a certain amount of +healing, enough to give you the healing/s you require in your raids to keep your people alive, and then stack spell crit if you're interested in healing efficiency.
Originally Posted by moz
Also, in your example above I think you mean T5 for b) not T6 -- either that or there is some redundancy since you get the 5% crit on HL regardless (4 or 5 pieces).
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No, I meant T6, so what I typed is correct, and yes you get the 5% crit for HL and the extra healing for FoL with both (I didn't type it in the second one since I had already mentioned it in the previous paragraph). I was comparing moving from T5 + Savior's Grasp to full T6 or 4 piece T6 with Savior's Grasp, since that's what my gear setup looks like (obviously, this comparison will be different for anyone else who uses the spreadsheet, depending on what their current gear looks like). When you compare the items, most of your extra +healing and mp5 from the T6 BP, but you lose stamina and crit % from Savior's Grasp. Depending on which one you want to go with changes the end results some, but the main point is that by switching to T6 instead of T5, you gain efficiency for FoL by increasing +healing and by the 4-piece T6 bonus. How much of that efficiency you gain depends on the BP choice.
Last edited by Yilona : 08/27/07 at 5:49 PM.
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